Drawer guide



March 23, 1937. J, CUMMINGS ET AL 2,074,371

DRAWER GUIDE Filed'Sept. 9, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORvS Jcrzne J C'ummJh a f) g-cLr J7. Shel or A TTORNEYS.

Patented Mar. 23, 1937 lPATENT oF Fics DRAWER GUIDE A James Cummings, Muskegon Heights, and Edgar H. Sheldon,

Muskegon,

Mich, assignors to E. H. Sheldon and Company, Muskegon, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Application September 9, 1935, Serial No. 39,718

2 Claims.

the drawer and its front sufiiciently closely fit therein; and further, to provide such a slide bearing whereby the drawer cannot pinch or bind 15 in its sliding movement; and further, to provide such a slide bearing which shall occupy a minimum cross-sectional space, particularly in a verticaldirection; and further, to provide such a slide bearing having improved antifriction de- 20 vices.

These and any other and more specific objects hereinafter appearing are attained by, and the invention finds preferable embodiment in, the illustrative cabinet structure particularly de- 25 scribed in the body of this specification and illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a view in perspective of a cabinet structure, the upper drawer thereof being with- 30 drawn and the lower drawer partially drawn outwardly;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view thereof taken on line 22 of Figure 3, medial portions of the cabinets front cross rails being broken away;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional viewof the same taken on line 33 of Figure 2; v

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view of portions thereof taken on line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view of parts of 40 the same taken on line 55 of Figures 2 and 6; i Figure 6 is a horizontal sectional view of said parts taken on line B6 of Figure 5; I

Figure 7 is a top plan View of parts of said structure illustrating a slide bearing for the 45 drawer;

Figure 8 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of said parts taken on line 8-8 of Figure 7 Figure 9 is a transverse vertical sectional view of said parts taken on line 9-9 of Figure 8;

Figure 10 is a transverse vertical sectional view of said parts taken on line Ill-l0 of Figure 8;

Figure 11 is a transverse sectional View of said parts taken on line I !--ll of Figure 8.

The particular embodiment of the invention 55 chosen for illustration by these drawings comprises a cabinet frame designated generally I and drawer designated generally 2, both made of sheet metal, although the invention may be embodied in a structure comprising a wooden cabinet frame with wooden drawers. As illustrated, the cabinet frame I has a top 3, sides 3, back 5 and horizontal front cross rails 6 between the drawer-receiving cavities; and the drawer 2 has the front i, sides 8, back 9 and bottom Ill. The drawer is supported and guided in its inward-outward movement by a slide bearing designated generally H at its bottom it), said bearing extending medially of said bottom.

This slide bearing I I, made of sheet metal, comprises the following members: the member [2 Whose middle portion I3 is mounted as by welding on the under side of the drawers bottom l0 and whose lateral portions extend first downwardly at M and then outwardly at l5; the member I6 whose lateral'portions extend first upwardly at H adjacent the'edges of said outward 1y extending portions l5 of member 12, and then inwardly at it over said portions l5; and an intermediate third member designated generally 19 slidable in the space between said members It and IS. The medial portion 20 of the member it is suitably supported on the body of the cabinet frame, as by welding on the spaced parallel angle bars 2| extending forwardly-rearwardly and having inwardly turned flanges 22 whose ends respectively abut at 23 on the edges of the flanges 24 of the front cross rail 6 and of the rear cross rail 25, said bars having also downwardly turned flanges extending under said cross rails 6, 25, these angle bars being united by welding or otherwise with said cross rails, thus providing a very rigid braced construction of the cabinet frame.

The member l6 has in its medial portion 20 slot 21 in which slides the shank of a lug or button'28 fastened to, and extending downwardly from, the intermediate member 19, and the head of said button slides between the mutually adjacent edges of the flanges 22 of the bars 2!. This intermediate member has a sliding movement about half that of the member I2 so that the drawer may be drawn to fully opened position.

It will be seen that the drawer is very rigidly supported and its bottom greatly strengthened by this slide bearing ll extending forwardlyrearwardly under said bottom along its middle, and comprising the three superposed members l3, l6, and I9, two of which have vertically extending flange portions l4, l1 which add greatly CAD to their rigidity; and that the drawer being thus supported along its center line tends to be balanced against downwardly tipping movement at its sides. In wider or heavily loaded drawers however, it may be found desirable to provide a pair of these slide bearings ll adjacent their respective sides, and in some cases to provide members 30 on which the drawers bottom adjacent its sides lightly bears in its sliding movement. It will also be seen that this slide bearing H occupies very little space cross sectionally, especially in a vertical direction, being located directly behind the vertically narrow front cross rail 6 of the cabinet frame; also, that several mutually bearing surfaces are provided between the slidable members; that therefore and because this slide bearing l I is narrow horizontally instead of comprising bearing surfaces widely spaced apart as in cases where drawers slidably bear on the cabinet frame at their widely spaced sides, it will be seen that the drawer will not stick or bind in its sliding movement, but that it is accurately guided along a direct line; and that the drawer may properlyfit sufficiently closely in the frame and the edges 3| of its front I may thus fit in the mouth of the drawer cavity but not in actual contact therewith so that the drawer may be slid in and out without danger of marring these parts. Furthermore: Considerable inaccuracies of construction may exist in this cabinet structure and considerable deformation by warping, expanding or contract ing may occur, especially in wooden structures, without materially effecting the operation of this structure in which the drawer is firmly supported in its middle and is accurately guided by this rigid slide bearing H.

This slide bearing II is so limited in cross-sectional dimensions, both vertically and horizontally, that any possible change in such dimensions caused by expansion or contraction cannot affect the fit of the drawer in the cavity of the cabinet frame.

In manufacturing the cabinet structures equipped with the said slide bearing, ample allowance may therefore be made for distortion caused by atmospheric changes, etc.

The drawer may have a stop 32 limiting its inward movement and a stop 33 to limit its outward movement, this stop 33 being pivoted at 34 on the side of the drawer and urged upwardly to operative position by a spring 35.

This slide bearing is desirably provided with anti-friction devices as follows:

The intermediate member l9 comprises superposed parallel strips 36 united as by welding. The ends of these strips first diverge and then approach each other and have holes 31 extending therethrough as bestseen in Figs. 8 and 11. Balls 38 of larger diameter than these holes are held turnably therein, rolling on the members l2 and I6 in the drawers sliding movements.

The invention being intended to be pointed out in the claims, is not to be limited to or by details of construction and arrangement of the particular embodiment thereof illustrated by the drawings or hereinbefore described.

We claim:

1. In a structure including a frame and a drawer, a drawer guide comprising: a pair of members mounted on the frame and on the bottom of the drawer respectively each having a fiat medial portion, the member which is mounted on the drawer having opposite lateral portions each extending vertically downwardly to space said medial portions apart and then extending horizontally outwardly and the member which is mounted on the frame having opposite lateral portions each extending vertically upwardly at the edge of the adjacent horizontally extending portion of the member mounted on the drawer and then extending horizontally inwardly thereover to connect said members in sliding relation and to hold their medial portions in vertically spaced relation; and a third member extending in the space between the first mentioned and the second mentioned members, parallelly therewith, comprising connected upper and lower plates with spaced portions having pairs of holes therethrough the holes of each pair being adjacent the lateral edges respectively of said third member, and balls held between said spaced portions of the third member bearing in the holes and extending outwardly therefrom into rolling contact with said fiat medial portions respectively.

2. In a structure including a frame and a drawer, a drawer guide comprising: a pair of members mounted on the frame and on the bottom of the drawer respectively each having a flat medial portion, the member which is mounted on the drawer having opposite lateral portions each extending vertically downwardly to space said medial portions apart and then extending horizontally outwardly and the member which is mounted on the frame having a slot bearing extending longitudinally thereof and opposite lateral portions each extending vertically upwardly at the edge of the adjacent horizontally extending portion of the member mounted on the drawer and then extending horizontally inwardly thereover to connect said members in sliding relation and to hold their medial portions in vertically spaced relation; and a third member extending in the space between the first mentioned and the second mentioned members, parallelly therewith, comprising connected upper and lower plates with spaced portions having pairs of holes therethrough the holes of each pair being adjacent the lateral edges respectively of said third member, and balls held between said spaced portions of the third member bearing in the holes and extending outwardly therefrom into rolling contact with said flat medial portions respectively, the third member having a downward projection slidably bearing in said slot in the third members movement.

JAMES CUMMINGS. EDGAR I-I. SHELDON. 

